With just two NASCAR Cup Series races and four playoff spots remaining, the stage is set for an electrifying finish! First up is the iconic Daytona International Speedway, where the drama will be off the charts. Every driver is gunning for those crucial points or a game-changing win. For those on the bubble, it’s a make-or-break moment, while the frontrunners are eyeing those coveted playoff points.

Adding to the excitement is the big prize money for the Daytona race. However, there’s been a noticeable disparity between the Cup Series and the Truck Series prize pools. This time again, the difference has sparked quite a buzz among fans, who are calling on NASCAR to address the imbalance.

The eye-opening difference in pay between Truck and Cup Series

Unlike previous years, Daytona won’t serve as the regular-season finale in 2024. Instead, it will be the penultimate race on the schedule. Despite the change, Daytona’s challenging track layout, with its high-speed straights and steep banking, still demands exceptional driving skills. Going into the race, Chris Buescher will be looking for a back-to-back win; he won the Daytona race last year. Chris Buescher, among many winless drivers, will be eyeing a victory.

However, what makes the victory even sweeter at the Daytona Track is the race purse. While there is good news for the Cup series drivers, the Truck series purse is still below par. The monetary incentives of the Daytona race have been revealed, as Bob Pockrass took to X, “Cup: $9,193,568, Xfinity: $1,886,123, Truck: $672,572.”

While the Cup series amount is great, the Xfinity one is decent. It is just alarming to see the Truck Series prize pool. It is more than 10 times less than that of the Cup. It is important to note this amount is the total and not what the race winner gets. It’s really simple math to know how scanty that would be.

The disparity in pay between the NASCAR Cup and Truck series has been a longstanding issue, with little progress toward achieving parity. Despite racing on the same tracks and facing similar risks, drivers in the two series receive significantly different compensation. This inequality is not unique to Daytona but extends to other tracks on the circuit. For example, in the recent Richmond race, where the prize pool for the cup was $$7,925,121, and that for the truck was $744,784. The same pattern continues, as the prize pool for the Cup series was over ten times larger than that for the Truck series.

While some differences can be attributed to variations in popularity, the vast disparity in pay seems unfair, given the comparable challenges faced by drivers in both series. Yet why such a massive difference? Fans have the same questions.

NASCAR fans react to the glaring difference

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Fans feel it for the Truck Series drivers. Yes, the series is not as popular as the Cup, but it isn’t as unpopular as the prize pool indicates either. According to one fan, the truck drivers deserve better. He wrote, “The truck purses need to be increased.” 

However, this is not the first time Truck Series purses have hit the lowest of the lowest, and the fans are shocked to see the difference. Remember when Bob Pockrass shared the Las Vegas purse earlier this year? $9,386,054 for the Cup series, Xfinity’s got a bump to $1,801,278, and the Truck Series was up to $736,214. Fans were quick to notice the huge gap and lashed out at NASCAR. This time as well, the gap is huge, and this fan echoed his concern for the Truck Series drivers, wondering, “How the fuck do the truck teams function?”

The fans also took a gibe at NASCAR, as they noted that what truck drivers are getting are peanuts compared to the Cup ones. One such fan added some sarcasm when he wrote, “Good to see you still get a granola bar and a hearty pat on the back for running in trucks.” 

As previously discussed, the amount is the total prize pool, and the winner gets a small percentage of it. A concerned NASCAR fan, wondering what a small percentage of a small prize pool would be, wrote, “How much does the winner of the truck race actually get?” 

Getting into the specifics, a purse depends on the popularity of the Tier. And this is not something recent, but NASCAR has always worked on these dynamics. In every contract, NASCAR puts a set percent of its television money toward Cup, Xfinity, and Truck, which entirely depends on the revenue it generates.

While others were calling out NASCAR and complaining about the parity. One fan offered a practical solution. This is fair, as if the popularity of the series increased, the prize pool would too. The fan sharing his wisdom wrote, “Fans should BUY TICKETS to Truck races then to help boost the cash pool for them to be raised.”